Volume 1

EDITOR S PREFACE. XXI
earlier years, say 1789-1812, during which he antedated or
codated Henry on every one of the routes which the latter
ever pursued. The Henry and Thompson trails, so far as
the former's extend, are thus conterminous, and to some
extent coincident in dates. Finding frequent mention of
Thompson by Henry, I recognized the close relation
of much of the Thompson manuscript with the whole of
Henry's, and consequently made a careful study of the
former in connection with the latter. Thompson's records
from the winter of 1789-90, when he was at Cumberland
House on the Saskatchewan, to Aug. 12th, 18 12, when he
left Fort William on Lake Superior for Montreal, thus ending
forever his explorations in the Greater Northwest, are
voluminous and almost complete
;
there is hardly a break
in the day-by-day entries for these 23 years, and even in
the few instances where the diary is interrupted for brief
periods, we know by other evidence pretty well where
Thompson was. I worked for several weeks at Toronto, in
1894 and 1895, studying these manuscripts and preparing
a minute digest of Thompson's Journals for the period said
— 1789-1812. The net result of this research, in so far as it
bears in any way upon Henry, will be found embodied in
my notes.
It has long been a matter of regret among those versed
in the history and geography of the Greater Northwest
that this luminous record of the life-work of so modest, so
meritorious an explorer as Thompson was— of so scientific
a surveyor and so great
a discoverer—has never seen the
light, either under government patronage or by private
enterprise. I had serious thoughts at one time of undertaking
to edit Thompson, at least for the period down to
1812; and I reluctantly abandoned the idea only after
examination of the materials had satisfied me that I could
advise no publisher to bring out such a work, as it would
be expensive beyond any reasonable prospect of reimbursement.
The difficulty in the case is, that so much of the
manuscript consists of astronomical calculations, traverse-